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Running of the Rose

Wed, 09/27/2017 - 3:06pmadmin1

By:

Annette Bauer

On Thursday, September 21 parishioners and members of the Knights of Columbus gathered at St. Munchin for the Running of the Rose.

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Silver Rose has been a Knights of Columbus tradition for 57 years. In 1960, groups of Columbian Squires in Mexico, Canada and the United States decided to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe by carrying a rose across North America from Canada to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico. In 2001 Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, at the 119th Supreme Council Meeting in Toronto, addressed the effort in culture of life terms, referring to the Our Lady of Guadalupe - One Life, One Rose Program. He urged that it be expanded to every North American jurisdiction.

In recent years the program has expanded from three to six silver roses traveling the western, central, and eastern corridors of North America, with Knights of Columbus from Canada to Mexico carrying the roses from destination to destination, and finally to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico.

Every stop along the route of the Silver Rose Pilgrimage is an occasion for prayer and spiritual renewal centered on the rosary. The roses arrive in Mexico on December 12 for the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe Day.

About Our Lady of Guadalupe Day: It is believed that a man named Juan Diego encountered the Virgin Mary twice in Mexico City, on December 9 and December 12 in 1531. According to legend, Mary told Juan to ask the bishop to build a church on Tepeyac Hill.

According to Knights of Columbus member Pat O’Connnor, they were notified about six weeks before the ceremony the rose would be coming through Cameron.

“It is a great honor,’ O’Connor said.

“It is a great opportunity, it brings more awareness to not only the silver rose but our belief in the sanctity of life.” Father Tom Ludwig of St. Munchin Church said. “It makes more people aware of our mission to keep that important aspect of our faith.”